Roasted Heirloom Tomato & Vegan Pumpkin Seed Pesto Toasts

Is there anything that screams summer more than heirloom tomatoes?! I’m going to go ahead and answer that question for you with a big fat NOPE! I started growing my own tomatoes last year and, while I am for sure a gardening novice, it was super fun to create a recipe with a bit of produce right from my porch. Plus, this recipe is made with a creamier version of my vegan cashew cream pesto recipe but with pumpkin seeds in place of pine nuts for an amazing layer of savory basil goodness beneath layers of perfectly roasted tomatoes. Get ready to be buying all the tomatoes so you can make these absolutely amazing Roasted Heirloom Tomato & Vegan Pesto Toasts!

Yes give me all the summer tomatoes: Jump to Recipe

Part of the reason I decided to turn this amazing toast combo into a recipe was for a seasonal recipe collaboration with several other food bloggers. I was incredibly excited to be invited to participate in this months tomato theme and this is my official contribution to #wesaytomatoes. If you’re interested in seeing some of the other recipes that are a part of this collaboration, you can search the hashtag on Instagram. There are some seriously talented bloggers participating and a whole bunch of tomato recipes to last you the rest of summer! P.S- For anyone reading this afraid to start a food blog, stop waiting and go do it today! The community is awesome and I’m honestly bummed I waited this long to connect with so many bloggers, chefs, and food photographers.

Now back to this recipe!  The first step is making the pesto and the key here is to have well soaked cashews for the smoothest pesto. I like to soak my cashews in the morning and make the pesto as soon as I get home, but if you’re in a time crunch you can also soak them in boiling hot water for just 1 hour. Personally I like to make double the batch and save some pesto to eat with crackers or mini peppers as a snack during the week. If you’re just making the amount in the recipe it should be enough for 6-7 toasts. Once you have the pesto spread onto the toasts you’re going to layer with heirloom tomato slices that are 1/4-1/2 inch thick as they will shrink quite a bit. For the prettiest toasts, try to buy a few small and medium heirloom tomatoes of various colors. For this recipe I recommend buying 3 medium heirloom tomatoes and 3-4 small heirloom tomatoes of various varieties as this makes the flavor so much better. Basically, get creative and have fun decorating your toasts! Once you’re done layering on those tomatoes you’ll want to top with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a drizzle of olive oil for the perfect roasted tomatoes.

I hope you’re getting excited to end summer with some gorgeous and delicious roasted tomato toasts!  It’s always bitter-sweet to see summer coming to an end and even crazier to see that I only have two more summer recipes coming to the blog. Come mid-September, I’ll be switching gears for Fall and getting back to weekly recipes again (yay!). Not going to lie, I am a Fall girl and am already looking forward to those cooler days, big sweaters, and pumpkin spiced everything. So far I’ve been dreaming up some baked apple fritter doughnuts & healthy vegan pumpkin bread for the blog, but I’d love to hear from you all on what other vegan treats and plant-based recipes you’re hoping to see on the blog. In the meantime, enjoy these last few weeks of hot summer sun and plenty of delicious ripe tomatoes on everything!

-TSG

Print Recipe

Roasted Heirloom Tomato & Vegan Pumpkin Seed Pesto Toasts Yum

Course

Dinner, Lunch

Keyword

Toast

Servings

Toasts

Ingredients

Vegan Pesto Spread

• 1/2 cup raw cashews * covered and soaked in water for at least 6-8 hours
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil

Toast & Toppings

• 6 1/2 inch thick slices sourdough bread *or bread type of your choice
• 3-4 medium heirloom tomatoes
• 3-4 mini heirloom tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• handful fresh basil *extra to top the baked toasts

Course Dinner, Lunch Keyword Toast Servings Toasts Ingredients Vegan Pesto Spread 1/2 cup raw cashews * covered and soaked in water for at least 6-8 hours 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup nutritional yeast 2 Tbsp olive oil 2 Tbsp raw pumpkin seeds 1 tsp lemon juice 1 garlic clove 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil Toast & Toppings 6 1/2 inch thick slices sourdough bread *or bread type of your choice 3-4 medium heirloom tomatoes 3-4 mini heirloom tomatoes 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 tsp garlic powder handful fresh basil *extra to top the baked toasts

Instructions

Vegan Pesto

1. About 6-8 hours before making your toast soak your cashews in water. If you are short on time you can soak the cashews in boiling hot water for about 1 hour for similar results.
2. Preheat your oven to 400F once the cashews are soaked and ready.
3. In a small blender add your soaked cashews and water and blend 30 seconds or until a smooth paste is formed. Next, add in the nutritional yeast, olive oil, pumpkin seeds, lemon juice, and garlic and blend to combine. As a last step, add in the fresh basil until it is evenly blended in, stopping to scrape down the sides as need be.

Making the Toasts

1. Slice your sourdough into 6 1/2 inch thick slices and top with each slice with about 2 Tbsp of the pesto. Cut your tomato slices into 1/4 inch thick slices and stack on top of the toasts so that they are layered.
2. Drizzle the toasts with 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Add to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until toast is beginning to brown and tomatoes are concentrated and beginning to caramelize.
3. Remove from oven, top with fresh basil, and enjoy!
4. ** I do not recommend storing as leftover as the toast can get soggy, however you can cut the recipe in half if you want to make less**

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